Ian Smith considers recent key employment decisions
- When is notice given at common law?
- No contractual interpretation in a deduction from wages case.
- Dealing with long term sickness.
- Offers of suitable alternative employment & unfair dismissal.
Four apparently simple questions arise from the cases considered this month: (i) when is notice of dismissal actually given at common law?; (ii) how far can a tribunal look into the contractual rights and wrongs when deciding an action for unlawful deductions from wages?; (iii) how long does an employer have to wait before dismissing an employee for long-term sickness absence?; and (iv) how do the laws on suitable alternative employment and unfair dismissal fit together? The one thing they have in common is that, although the questions are simple, the answers are not necessarily so.
When is notice given at common law?
Precise dates were of extreme importance in the common law claim in Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust v Haywood [2017] EWCA Civ 153; [2017] All ER (D) 170 (Mar) in a way that will occur very rarely, but
